When
by Sarmoti
Summary: Trent reflects on when it all changed. Trent/Rachel


**Title:** When

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters used in this story, and I don't claim to own them. This is for entertainment purposes only.

**Summary:** Set in the future, Trent reflects on when it all changed. This was my first Hollows fic.

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_What can I do, to make it right  
Falling so hard so fast this time   
What did I say, what did you do?  
How did I fall in love with you?_

I hear your voice  
And I start to tremble  
Brings back the child that, I resemble 

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Trent sighed as he rolled over on his back, the sweat still clinging to his body from his latest nightmare. The bedroom window was open and he pushed the silk sheets down to pool around his waist, enjoying the cool night air on his chest. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to drive away the images that haunted him in his sleep.

_  
Her warm blood dripping from his hands as he eased her body down on the ground, desperately feeling for a pulse and taking a great gasp of air in when he felt it, weak but there under his trembling fingers. The ashes and blood merging together on the concrete the only proof that the demon had ever been there. _

A soft moan reached his ears, and he quickly realized that it wasn't the lingering remains of his nightmare. Turning over on his side, Trent looked down at his wife, her eyes closed but her face pinched in tight worry. There was a sheen of sweat across her forehead and her fingers were digging into her arms, leaving crescent marks from her nails. Another moan escaped her slightly parted lips, and her head moved just slightly, causing a lone red curl to drop down across her cheek.

Trent reached over slowly, running his hand across her forehead before catching the curl on his finger and tucking it behind her ear, letting his finger trail down her neck as he released the hair. Propping himself up on one elbow, he looked down at his sleeping wife, trapped in her own nightmare. He had no regrets, and he knew she didn't either, but that didn't stop the horror from coming back at night.

When she moaned once more, Trent quickly brought his hand up to cup her cheek, stroking his thumb over her soft skin in a gentle rhythm, watching intently as her face slowly relaxed and her shoulders eased. A small breath of air escaped her lips and he knew it was over. He let go of her face and used his hand to pull her now-relaxed hand off of her arm, running a finger across the marks her nails had left. 

Knowing it would be awhile before he would be able to fall back asleep, he closed his eyes and wondered when it all changed. When the woman sleeping next to him went from being the biggest pain in the ass he had ever met to being the one person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Smiling, he opened his eyes to look at her sleeping form. Long legs stretched under the sheets and smooth, cool skin rested against his. Unruly red hair drifted across her pillow before coming to a rest on his, barely tickling his nose. She was still a pain in the ass, but she was **HIS** pain in the ass now.

When did she go from someone he slightly feared and was irritated by to someone he greatly respected and cared for? When did she go from someone he felt the need to eliminate or control to someone he felt the need to protect and love?

He didn't know if was the first time he saw her since childhood, standing in his private office after having escaped the rat-fights. Wearing a black spandex body suit and trying to rob him for the third time (and succeeding), or if it was when he woke up cold and wet, his chest hurting and pieces of burning boat floating around him as she tried to pull herself out of the icy water, her protective circle and their combined magic the only thing keeping them alive.

It could have been when he held her in his arms for the first time, spinning her around on the dance floor while his former bride-to-be watched in jealousy and a demon grinned and plotted his next move against the witch. Her conversation had been so typical and off beat that it pleased him, entertained him on a day when nothing else had been able to.

It may have started years ago, when he was just a kid. She had been tall and skinny then. He remembered when she would show up for camp, her eyes drained and her movement sluggish. He would fear for her, not understanding what was happening to her or any of the other kids his dad brought there. 

But within a week, she would become full of fire and spunk. She was the first one out catching frogs, helping to teach the other kids how to swim, and making crafts with the kids in wheelchairs.

He had resented the ease she had with people, her ability to make anyone laugh, and her freedom to do what she wanted when she felt like it. He hated that she picked on him, made him cry in front of his father, and turned his 'accident' into camp legend.

He may not be able to pin-point when it began, but Trent remembered the exact moment when it hit him head on, no longer something he could ignore or push away. His calm, cool and collected way of dealing with everything in his life, from his business dealings to his personal relationships, had been shattered and his heart had beat faster with fear as he watched her step up to her death. Her red hair flying unbound behind her and her ridiculous high-heeled boots clicking on the pavement even as her knees visibly shook with fear.

Rachel shifted in her sleep, distracting him from the past as her leg bumped his and she pushed herself closer, trying to capture his warmth. He reached down and pulled the black silk back up around their bodies, blocking the cool air.

Her eyes fluttered open as the material settled around her chest. "Can't sleep?" she whispered.

Trent let his arm fall from behind his head, resting against the soft pillow. "I was just thinking…" he murmured, watching her nose crinkle with curiosity.

"About..?" she asked.

"How long it took my arm to stop bleeding after you threw me into that tree," Trent replied, not cracking a smile. 

"You deserved it. I only wish there had been a taller tree," she replied, stretching her legs and grinning when his eye began to twitch.

"Watch it witch…" he growled, rolling her under his body and capturing her lips before she could reply.

Fin


End file.
